Anita's Writing Portfolio

Cover Letter

To Whom It May Concern:

I would first like to thank you for taking the time to read my selected works for my portfolio. I am Anita Wang, a freshman in Fudan University. This semester I took the advanced writing class and I really harvested a lot from it.  

The content of this class is very abundant. Before each lesson, we would have a 10-min free writing. We have read four celebrated articles which were “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, “The Americanization of Shadrach Cohen” by Bruno Lessing, “Dead Men's Path” by Chinua Achebe and “The Grass-Eaters” by Krishnan Varma. We wrote reading log for each and an interpretive essay on one of the four articles. Throughout the semester, we also had three timed-writing. This writing portfolio is composed of some selected articles I wrote this semester, including this cover letter, three drafts of an academic essay, a final timed-wring and a reading log.

In this class, I bumped into a lot of new things: reading log, timed-writing, plot summary, peer review and the academic interpretive essay. What have I harvested from this class is great. I used to like writing in free style for I think it could best express my views. But this time, things were different. It was my first time to have written an essay so academically that I could not deny it was a challenge to me. With the guidance and practice, my writing structure improved. My grammar mistakes are less than before and understanding towards articles becomes more accurate, too. I feel I am gradually growing into a critical thinker and a true writer. After this class, I am more confident in my formal academic writing for I have seen my own progress. From null, I created my “best” essay. That was really an exciting experience.

The second item was my final timed-writing. Would Mathilde’s life have become better if she had not lost the necklace? I tried to find the answer through Mathilde’s changes in her appearance and in her mind. The writing process was quite smooth. I think it is easier for me to organize my ideas now.
 
The biggest part of this class was to write an interpretive essay. The article I chose was Chinua Achebe’s “Dead Men’s Path”. I thought the culture clash should not be blamed for the main character’ failure so the essay focused on exploring the real reason. There are three drafts in all. They were put in the order of time so you can see my changes and progress through each.

Draft one severed to show my organization of my ideas. Finding a good thesis statement was no easy job. Writing in Chinese and in English differs a lot. When writing in Chinese, you may reveal your opinion deeply and let the readers to guess. But when writing in English, you should say your opinions out, loudly. My first thesis was not specific and not strong. With the suggestion of Mr. Corio, I revised it and made it stronger and clearer. I imagined myself as the main character in order to understand the character better. “What was he thinking about that time?” “Why he behaved in this way?” I often asked myself. I felt as a detective who was seeking answers through one and the next paragraph. In order to show the organization of my ideas more clearly, I used small titles in my first draft.

Then we had our peer review. Peer review was a wonderful idea because sometimes other people might be able to figure out something that you probably would not find. Finding the miss is the first step of improving. And I did gain a lot from it.

In my draft two, I deleted the small titles and started to use quotes and rearranged some ideas and paragraph. I laid more emphasis on the conflict. In fact, I was quite confident in my draft two that time until I received Mr. Corio’s comments. All red parts! I was really a little frustrated but I tried to read every specific comment carefully to find the improving way. Mr. Corio’s instructions on quoting and revising were very helpful. I found there were so many rules that I should follow. I could not wait to begin cultivating my draft three.

In the draft three, I tried to quote with more technique. I also inserted new sentences in the paragraph to make the flow of ideas more logic. I spared no effort in correcting grammar mistakes. This process was time consuming and needed great patience. But from it, I came to know: perfect comes after times of revising. That is a golden rule to me now.

I am smiling while writing this cover letter. It is an unforgettable memory. I want to express my gratitude to our instructor, Ron Corio. He had given me so much guidance during the whole semester. Without him, I could not have walked so far. “Thank you, Ron. You are a very nice person. I learnt a lot from this class.” I also want to thank Promise and Thomas who also have helped me a lot. Friendship can last even when this class is over. I believe so.

Thank you for taking the time to read my papers. I hope you enjoyed the reading process.